Mambaling police to public: Check if dead man found in SRP is your missing relative

The body of a still unidentified man was found floating at the back of the NOAH building at the South Road Properties (SRP) in Barangay Mambaling, Cebu City early on Monday morning, July 25. | Paul lauro

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Police are encouraging those families, who have relatives missing, to check if the dead man found floating in the seawaters of the South Road Properties in Barangay Mambaling, Cebu City on Monday morning, July 25, 2022, is their missing relative.

Police Major Bethooven Taneo, Mambaling Police Station chief, made the call after the victim had remained unidentified as of this posting.

“Dako man gud ang possibility nga dili ni taga Mambaling area. Murag naay possibility (na taga) outside Cebu City ni. Nadisgrasya unya naanod lang diri sa area sa SRP,” Taneo said.

(There is a big possibility that he is not from the Mambaling area. There’s a big possibility that the victim was from outside Cebu City. He met an accident then drifted here in the SRP area.)

Taneo described the dead man as one wearing a white T-shirt and a pair of short pants and the name Diaz tattooed on his right arm.

The police chief also said that they also did not know how the victim died because the body had already been bloated, which meant that he was in the water for a couple of days, when it was found.

He also said that they did not notice a few wounds in his body but they did not know if he was stabbed or shot or what might have caused his death.

They are also waiting for the result of the autopsy from the PNP Crime Laboratory 7 to identify the cause of his death.

“Sa pagkakaron dili pata makaconfirm tungod kay padulong na madecompose. Gihulat lang nato ang confirmation sa autopsy report. Katong mga nakita nga samad sa iyang lawas. Dili ta makasiguro nga samad pinusilan gud tungod sa kadaot na ba kay pila na ka adlaw sa dagat,” Taneo said.

(For now, we cannot confirm because the body was in a near state of decomposition. We are just waiting for the confirmation in the autopsy report. We cannot be sure about the wounds seen in his body. We cannot be sure if the wound was a gunshot wound because of the damage on the body caused by its floating at sea for quite a few days.)

He also said that they would coordinate with other provincial police stations to expand their search for the identity of the victim.

Initial investigation showed that the body was found by Andy Padica, a fisherman, who was fishing in the area.

Padica called the radio station dyHP of what he found and the radio station reported this to the police.

The Mambaling police immediately went to the area at past 5 a.m. and found the body floating there.

Taneo said that the unidentified body was placed at the St. Francis funeral parlor as they (police) wait for relatives to claim the body.

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